How to Pass the CCIE Service Provider Lab Exam

By: Marvin Greenlee, CCIE #12237 (Routing & Switching/Security/Service Provider)

When comparing to other tracks, the general steps needed to pass the lab are very similar. There are some differences in the specific topics and technologies covered. For starters, let's review the recommended three step learning process. .

Step 1 — Understand the features
Step 2 — How has Cisco implemented the feature.
Step 3 — Hands-on practice

Step 1 — Understand The Features

You should have a general understanding of the advantages of the various features and technologies. Ideally this viewpoint will be vendor-neutral. The idea for this step is to know what the feature does, as well as what advantages / disadvantages it has over other methods.

Step 2 — Cisco Implementation

With a target goal of Cisco certification, it is important that you have an understanding of how the features are specifically implemented on Cisco devices, since that is what you are going to be tested on in the lab. This can be gained by reviewing various configuration examples, technotes, as well as the online documentation which will be available in the lab exam.

Step 3 — Hands-on Practice

In order to have the best chance of passing the lab exam, you will ideally have hundreds to possibly thousands of hours of hands on configuration. In addition to practicing the individual technologies, you should also make sure to practice configuring various technologies together, in order to observe the interactions. The more practice you have, the more familiar you will be with the configurations, and speed will increase. When looking at overall timing, most estimates place the amount of hands-on practice at roughly 60% of the total study time.

Recommended Reading

In general, a CCNP or CCIP level of knowledge is recommended before starting prep for the SP lab. If there any weak areas, make sure that you have done additional reading on those areas. The books listed on the reading list for the SP lab form a solid foundation for the topics in the lab.


In addition to the books listed above, you will probably want to review miscellaneous white papers and RFCs that are relevant to topics on the lab, including but not limited to the following:

  • RFC 2328
  • RFC 3630
  • RFC 4577
  • RFC 4684
  • RFC 4364
  • RFC 2827
  • RFC 3330

Some people also like the transport discussion in RFCs 1149 and 2259, but those are out of scope for the current blueprint and hardware specifications in the SP lab.

Learning the Technologies and Topics Covered in the Lab Exam

Having a base knowledge level of the underlying technologies, now it's time to put that knowledge to use and take a look at configuration on devices, while also reinforcing knowledge of the underlying technologies.

CCIE Service Provider Advanced Technologies Class

The ATC is recorded class material that covers the technologies. The ATC uses a blended approach, including slides with audio, and hands-on configuration on the command line.

CCIE SP Lab Workbook Volume I

Volume 1 has detailed scenario labs focused on individual technologies. These labs can be used to get an understanding of the Cisco implementation and configuration for the technologies and features that may be unfamiliar. It is not required to work through every single scenario, but you should at a minimum work through any areas that you are not comfortable with configuring.

After working through the reading, watching the recordings and practicing the scenarios presented in the Volume 1 workbook, you should be comfortable configuring each of the individual technologies. In addition to just configuring the technologies, you should be able to troubleshoot and verify the individual technologies, using show and debug commands on the devices.

Solidifying and Expanding Your Existing Knowledge

With a solid understanding of the base technologies, it is time to expand the knowledge. In addition to gaining additional hands-on practice, these will focus on how the individual technologies work together.

CCIE SP Lab Workbook Volume II

Volume 2 consists of full-topology lab scenarios with various technologies interacting.

When working through the Volume 2 labs, you should have a solid understanding of the individual technologies, and shouldn't need to rely on the documentation. Use the first couple as a 'warm-up'.
The goal of the Volume 2 labs is NOT to teach you the individual technologies. As you work through Volume 2, you should look at these areas:

  1. What are problems are encountered when various technologies interact.
  2. How much should you be able to complete in eight hours.
It is very likely that at least initially, you will not finish one of these scenarios in eight hours.

Let's take a look at two possibilities for the outcome after completion of your first lab scenario.
Possibility 1 — You finish the scenario in under eight hours, and after checking your work against the solution, very few mistakes were made, and you didn't have to look up any topics or features.
If this is the case, great, move on to the next lab and try again.
Possibility 2 — Anything else.
OK, so you didn't do as well as you would have liked. Rather than just blindly moving on to the next lab, step back and assess what went wrong. Let's look at some of the common problem areas:

  1. Unfamiliar with the technologies and topics covered.
  2. Didn't understand the task requirements based on the wording.
  3. Too many little mistakes.
  4. Ran out of time.

Let's take a look at these individually, starting with the first one.

  1. Unfamiliar with technologies.
    If you are unfamiliar with the technologies, take a look at your base knowledge for that particular technology, and develop a plan to strengthen that technology. This could include additional reading, additional practice in hands-on configuration, or reviewing some of the ATC videos.
  2. Didn't understand requirements based on the wording.
    Sometimes, this goes back to number one. Task wording may require deep knowledge of a particular technology in order to be properly interpreted. Problems with the wording can also be caused by rushing through a section too quickly and not reading carefully.
  3. Too many little mistakes.
    An occasional mistake is generally not going to cause major trouble. Some candidates, however, have a tendency of repeatedly making small mistakes, which all end up cascading together. Most of the time, this can be avoided by just carefully verifying as you go, and verifying again at the end.
  4. Ran out of time.
    There are different reasons for running out of time. Taking a look as some of the most common ones:
    1. Spent too much time on one or more sections.
    2. Not fast enough configuring the individual sections.
    3. Spent too much time looking up topics in the online documentation.
    The general guideline is to never spend more than 15 minutes on any single section, including configuration, verification, and (if necessary) troubleshooting. If the problem is speed configuring the individual sections, the recommended course of action is to go back and get more hands-on practice in any weak areas. If the problem is too much time looking up information, then it could be caused by not enough understanding of the technologies themselves, or not enough hands-on practice.

Quick review on volume 2:

  1. Work through a lab.
  2. Review your weak areas.
  3. Repeat.

After you've worked through a couple of the practice labs, you should have a better idea of your overall strengths and weaknesses when it comes to the various technology interactions. Continue the cycle of working through a lab, and reviewing any unfamiliar areas.

Alright, at this point you should have a solid grasp on most of the technologies. If you are comfortable with most of the technologies and are just making occasional minor mistakes, this would be the time to go ahead and book a lab date. If you find that you still have deficiencies, it is better to keep studying than to have your errors pointed out at the expense of a lab attempt.

OK, we're not quite done yet, there are still a few more items.

Looking at the lab format, we have two separate sections, OEQ and configuration. The OEQ, or open ended questions, are a set of four short answer questions.

Note: Troubleshooting is also going to be added as a separate section. Additional discussion on that section in particular will be made when a formal announcement is made by Cisco.

Core Knowledge Simulator

This item can be used for final review for the Core Knowledge section of the exam. The Core Knowledge Simulator allows you to simulate short quizzes to test your knowledge. These are not the exact questions that you will see, just representative questions covering the same topics.

Note: As of May 10, 2010, the Core Knowledge section has been removed from some of the CCIE tracks. Although it is still present in the exam, it may be removed in the future.

CCIE Service Provider 5-Day Bootcamp

As you get closer to lab date, many candidates like to have an extra "push" at the end. The 5-day bootcamp can do that as it works through multiple lab scenarios in a mock-lab format with review after each of the labs. Just like with the Volume 2 labs, the class is not intended to teach individual technologies, but rather to validate the level of understanding for the technologies.

Good Luck!


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